Known in the art are several filtering apparatuses used for treating and purifying wastewater. For instance, the North American Filter Corporation has developed a filter known as the Waterloo Biofilter, which comprises an open cell foam wherein little blocks are cut into dimensions of about 3 inches by 3 inches. Typically, grey water is poured over the top of the blocks and flows down as air is blown up through the bottom of the open cell foam. By keeping the media wet with re-circulating grey water, the bacteria grow inside the foam. However, such a system is fairly expensive to maintain, as it constantly needs air blowing to generate aerobic bacteria in the foam and because a mechanical pump is required to continuously re-circulate the grey water over the foam.
Also known in the art are other filtering/purifying apparatuses used for treating and purifying wastewater. These include the following: leaching fields attached to septic tanks, biodisks (rotating disks), multimedia sand filters, fluidized beds (sand suspended in water), Zenon Zeeweed® filters,
ECO FLOW® (peat moss) and plastic spheres, balls, stars, honeycombs, and the like.
A major problem with the devices that use peat moss and other similar substances for filtering/purifying applications is that these substances are biodegradable, and thus get eaten by bacteria with time and turn into mock, which is very undesirable, as is known in the art.
Known to the Applicant are the following US patents which describe different purifying apparatuses and methods: U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,615,803; 5,206,206; 5,618,414; 5,811,002; 5,913,588; 6,063,276; 6,110,374; and 6,162,020.
Also known to the Applicant are the following international patent applications which also describe different purifying apparatuses and methods: WO 87/05593; WO 91/16496; WO 01/04060; WO 01/12563; WO 01/56936; and WO 01/66475.
These different apparatuses and methods are disadvantageous because they tend to be elaborate in design; require a substantial amount of energy input for operating; are fairly expensive and/or difficult to manufacture/assemble/install; require considerable maintenance; etc.